What a week...

Cailyn Scout Akens

July 16, 2010

6 pounds 13 ounces

20 inches 

Well she is finally here and is absolutely perfect!!! I know every Mom says that...but still. Last Friday morning at around 1 a.m. I started having contractions. They were about 5 minutes apart and were fairly strong but I wasn't sure if I was actually in labor or not. We called the Dr. at around 3:30 and she told us we could either wait at home and see if the contractions got stronger or we could go ahead and head to the hospital. We decided to wait another hour to see if things changed. So Kris and I laid on the couch and watched TV while timing my contractions. At 4:30 I decided we should head to the hospital. I wasn't sure if they would admit me or not but I was sure that I would never sleep in that condition and I had been hurting quite a bit since the day before so we gathered our things and headed to the hospital.
So we got to Baylor and they hooked me up to the monitors and I was having regular contractions and I was 4cm dilated. By 9 a.m. I still had not asked for the epidural and I wasn't really sure when the best time would be for me to get it. I was not comfortable at all...but I wasn't in severe pain yet either so I asked the nurse when I should get it. She said it was totally up to me..she said some Mothers wait as long as they can but other Mothers walk up to the nurses desk as soon as they get to the hospital and say "Hi, I am here for my epidural!"....Well...next time...I will be that woman too! I waited too long to get it so by the time the CRNA came in to give it to me I was hurting really bad!!! Always stay a head of the pain...lesson learned!!! Well then there was some issues getting the epidural in...apparently I have really tight vertebral spaces so the epidural took twice as long to get in. I was having really strong contractions while they were trying to get it in and then the blood pressure cuff was about to squeeze my arm off...so lets just say I was ready to scream!!! I have a pretty high pain tolerance but I definitely came very close to hitting my max! Again...lesson learned. I will definitely get my epidural sooner next time!!! I progressed really fast after the epidural. I went from a 4 to an 8 to a 10 in a very short amount of time. We started pushing around 2:30 p.m. My parents were on there way to Dallas from TN and were very worried that they were not going to make it in time. I ended up pushing for 3 hours. Even though I progressed completely on my own, Scout just wasn't going to come out without a fight. Dr. Reyes decided to try the suction to help her out and if that didn't work they were going to do an emergency C-section. Luckily the suction worked. Her heart rate dropped really low (which I didn't even know about till later) but they got her out and she was fine. I swear there is nothing more precious than to hear your baby cry for the first time. I wanted to see her so bad but they took her to the corner of the room to get her stabilized as soon as she came out so all I could do was listen to her cry. She weighed 6 pounds and 13 ounces and she was 20 inches long. She has brown hair and dark eyes. So far I think she has my eyes and Kris's mouth and chin. I think she is just beautiful!!!!
The next few days after her birth were not the easiest for me. I got a spinal headache from the epidural and I strained my neck really bad from pushing so long...so I was in really bad pain that I had not expected after she was born. They did a blood patch procedure on me before we left the hospital on Sunday which is basically where they draw blood from my arm and inject it into the epidural space in my back. It helped the headache some...but today is the first day that I have actually felt some what normal. Thank goodness for our family!!! Everyone was great to us while we were in the hospital! My parents stayed with us for a week and I don't know what we would have done without them. I have been so out of it on pain medicine that I have pretty much been worthless other than feeding her and changing her when I can lift my head for long enough. I am so thankful that I am starting to feel a little better today! My parents left yesterday morning and that was really hard. As soon as I watched them drive away I just started bawling. I just wish they were closer. Luckily we are going to TN soon and I can't wait!!
Scout is doing really well with breastfeeding so far. We had a couple hard days but she has it down now. Last night I fed her at midnight, then she woke up at 4 a.m. and then again at 7:30 a.m. I think that is pretty good for a newborn. She is just precious and I am totally in love with her!!!! I look at her and I can't believe she is actually mine. I feel really blessed and I would totally do it all over again for her! She is amazing and I could just stare at her all day! Thanks to our family and friends for being so awesome while we were in the hospital...we are truly blessed. I will update more later. :)